Eagles Change Direction and Name Vick as Starter

Michael Vick, who led the Eagles to a victory last Sunday, will be calling the plays on Sunday against Jacksonville, not Kevin Kolb.Credit
Leon Halip/Getty Images

On Monday, Philadelphia Eagles Coach Andy Reid talked about the “beautiful situation” he had at quarterback, Kevin Kolb returning from a concussion to reclaim his starting job on Sunday against Jacksonville and Michael Vick coming off the bench with a hot hand for a change of pace.

Twenty-four hours later, the situation wasn’t beautiful so much as messy. Reid changed his mind and named Vick his starter for the rest of the season. Vick, whom Reid called “an ex-superstar who now has regained his abilities,” played well in the six quarters since Kolb was injured in the season opener, especially as the starter in a 35-32 victory over the Lions last Sunday in which he completed 21 of 34 passes for 284 yards and 2 touchdowns.

There is little doubt that Vick, who the Eagles acquired and used little last season, is lighter and more fluid on the field than he was when he first emerged from prison. But the decision leaves Kolb, the heir apparent who was given the starting job when the Eagles traded Donovan McNabb to the Redskins, in limbo and makes Vick a full-time starter for the first time in nearly four years. This is the third starting quarterback change made by teams this week (Buffalo and Carolina were the others).

“Michael Vick is playing out of his mind right now and that’s a beautiful thing,” Reid said in a news conference Tuesday night.

Still, the switch is stunning because Reid had been adamant that Kolb would be the starter when he was healthy. On Tuesday, Reid said he really did plan to reinstall him in the starting job. But in his two quarters this season, Kolb and the offense had sputtered, with Kolb completing only 5 of 10 passes for 24 yards, and taking three sacks in the first half against the Packers.

When Vick took over in the second half of that game, he completed 16 of 24 passes for 175 yards and 1 touchdown and also rushed 11 times for 103 yards.

Reid said he had the full support of the Eagles’ front office in choosing Vick, who is in the final year of his contract.BRONCOS EXPRESS SHOCK Denver Broncos Coach Josh McDaniels said in a tearful news conference Tuesday that nobody in the organization saw any hint that wide receiver Kenny McKinley was suicidal before he took his life.

“We’ve all seen him recently,” McDaniels said. “He’s been the same person every time we see him. Liked junk food and chips and things like that,” McDaniels said. “He was in the cafeteria, or in the training room, when we were seeing him the last so many weeks here. Nothing that would alarm us to anything like this.”

McKinley’s body was discovered by a female friend Monday afternoon when she returned to his home less than four miles from the team’s headquarters after running an errand with his young son, Keon.

Arapahoe County Coroner Michael Dobersen said Tuesday that McKinley, 23, died of a gunshot wound to the head. He said a preliminary investigation “suggests the wound to be self-inflicted.”

Photo

Giants running back Brandon Jacobs playing against the Panthers in the opener. He said he has not asked to be traded.Credit
Barton Silverman/The New York Times

The team gathered Tuesday morning and met with grief counselors to help them deal with the death of McKinley, who was on injured reserve after hurting his left knee in August and requiring surgery for the second time in eight months. (AP)

JACOBS FINED $10,000 Brandon Jacobs, whose helmet toss on Sunday was more dramatic than any of his runs this season, was fined $10,000 by the N.F.L.

Jacobs, who apologized immediately after the Giants’ 38-14 loss to the Colts, said he meant to throw the helmet at the bench but it stuck to his gloves and flew toward fans instead. On Tuesday, he apologized again in a statement released by the team and said he “had no business tossing my helmet in the first place.”

He also said that he has met with General Manager Jerry Reese and Coach Tom Coughlin and has no intention of asking for a trade. JUDY BATTISTA

ROLLE CRITICIZES GIANTS Giants safety Antrel Rolle, in a radio interview Tuesday, candidly critiqued the team following its loss to the Colts, saying there was a lack of leadership in the locker room and that the organization was too restrictive of its players.

“I saw some things that I wasn’t too fond of in that locker room,” Rolle said on WFAN. “I felt like there was no one that stepped up to the plate when the opportunity presented itself.”

Rolle, who came to New York in off-season after playing for the Arizona Cardinals, also addressed the leadership more broadly in the Giants’ organization.

“There’s a lot of other things that goes on behind closed doors that a lot of people don’t know about,” Rolle said. “It’s not all about the players sometimes. Things have to change. If you want a winning team, if you want a team that has a competitive attitude and to have that dog mentality, sometimes you have to let that team be a dog. Everything can’t be controlled. And right now everything gets controlled within this organization. Everything is controlled.”

During the Ravens’ 15-10 loss Sunday to Cincinnati, Harbaugh made contact with the line judge Ron Marinucci in the chest while demonstrating where outside linebacker Terrell Suggs hit Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer during a questionable roughing-the-passer penalty. (AP)

TEXAN IS SUSPENDED Houston left tackle Duane Brown was suspended for four games for violating the N.F.L.’s policy on performance-enhancing drugs, joining Texans linebacker Brian Cushing on the sideline for the same offense. (AP)

A version of this article appears in print on September 22, 2010, on page B16 of the New York edition with the headline: Rolle Criticizes Giants’ Leadership and Control. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe